Halo: Reach Noble Map Pack – A Survival Guide

The Success Fisherman Posted on November 11, 2010

The Halo: ReachNoble Map Pack is out today, bringing three new maps to your Xbox 360 multiplayer mayhem. So how about a survival guide for Anchor 9, Breakpoint, and Tempest to start your Thanksgiving week off right? That’ll give you something to be thankful for, and it might just make you take other titles out of your tray and put Reach back in rotation.

But enough talk. Keep reading for a breakdown of the three maps which launch on November 30 for 800 MS points, along with our handy video guides that will let you know where you should hide, where the good weapons are, and what to avoid. Namely, laser beams. Big, giant laser beams. There are new Achievements in here offering up 250 gamerscore points, so learn the maps and start working.

“Orbital dockyards provide rapid refueling and repairs for a variety of UNSC vessels.”

This low-orbit drydock for UNSC aerial vehicles looks like your basic, low-rent space station at first glance. But, it’s actually a virtual killbox. Designed to mimic the fully symmetrical look of The Pit from Halo 3. There’s a two-story orange base and a blue base on either side or a central passageway, with two vehicle docking bays sealed off by force fields. Each base has a turret mounted opposite each other, and those force fields lead to low-gravity outer space, where you can use gantries to sneak behind the enemy and into their base. There’s a lot of attention to detail here, and it’s a perfect map for two to eight players, especially in Free For All.

Things To Keep In Mind:

The shotgun spawns in the central passageway, just near the entrance.

The rockets are located on the curved gantry, just outside the station.

You have an unlimited oxygen supply, so use those force fields as cover

Jet packs will allow you to each inaccessible areas, including a small platform on the top of the ship being repaired.

“ONI officials believe the data buried within this artifact is key to our survival.”

At first glance, you’ll notice that Breakpoint is a huge, snowy, dark and mysterious map. There’s a gigantic Forerunner artifact on the surface, and temporary, modular ONI archeology buildings have been set up all around it. But, there are signs that the Covenant are interested in moving in as well. While the map is not quite symmetrical, it’s divided in half by a broken rock spine, and there are pathways on both sides of the map that will take you to the other side. Built for 8 to 16 players, the map is perfect for Invasion and Big Team Battles.

Things To Keep In Mind:

Vehicle control is key here. Control the ground with a Scorpion/Wraith, or the skies with a Falcon/Banshee, and you’ll rack up kills quickly.

Each side of the map has a sniper rifle, shotgun, and rocket launcher. The side under the artifact has the rockets in the room sealed off with portable barriers and his flashing lights inside. On the other side of the map, the rockets are leaning against the modular building at the top of the front-facing stairs.

The bridges and the tunnel both tend to be choke points for ground based vehicles. Avoid them, or explore alternate vantage areas that still give you a line of fire.

“Though we may never fully understand these devices, it is not our nature to leave ancient stones unturned.”

Tempest is an abandoned facility set along the shore on one of the Halo ringworlds, and it offers up a long, symmetrical map that will instantly remind you of Valhalla. While this one might not be quite as long as Valhalla, it offers up a lot more variety in terms of design. There’s a cave system that allows stealthy rear access to both bases, well-placed turrets to keep the ground and skies vehicle free, and symmetrically-placed snipers and rockets. There’s an EMP-laced laser bisecting the sky which will disable flying vehicles, and a huge Forge palette available for this map, which includes a rock wall you can delete, opening up a large tunnel. Plus, there are fish in that stream. Yoink!

Things To Keep In Mind

It’s great having turrets, but these are both facing each other. You really need to try and control both, or you’re just a giant target.

Watch that laser in the sky, because while you might be angling for that perfect Banshee shot, you might zap yourself and tumble to the ground.

Caves: learn them early. Sneaking through these is going to give you a great way to enter the enemy base undetected.

The rocks scattered about the middle of the map offers great cover, particularly for snipers or someone with rockets looking to take out a vehicle.